St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-01-23
WHAT CAN 8E BONE

To the Editor OF the Globe.
Henry George says: e" Let the land which
is Gods gift to man be re-distributed Let
all have share i'll it. Or, if this cannot
be conveniently or amicably arranged let
the land bear all the taxes for all purposes
of government. education and charity" His
theory may apply in modified form to
countries in which the people were de-
prived by conquest and treachery of the
land that belonged to Them 1t hardly ap-
plies to the United States in their present
condi ion. Others say LET the poor come
West and occupy the broad acres; lying
around i'll all directions inviting occupation
They are sure to yield richly, OF at least indie
pendence to all willing workers. The writer
inclineS most emphatically to the latter
idea. But he is met by host of tinid and
OVer-cautiouS theorists, who say: 1t is I'M
possible to turn mechanic a miner, or
even laborer in the great cities. all at
once into successful farmer Take them
into your prarieS of the West and they are
sure to perish in the first blizzard that
sweeps oyer them.
But somehow people of the same caliber
mentally, physically and Intellectually,
have gone to these plains and have pros
pered. And the billiards.. the frost and the
snow of the great West to day are scarcely,
if at all. more damaging to the human CON
stitution than the forests. the loneliness and
the Indians of fifty years ago. Now what
ought the government to do? How stands
the great Democratic party which. in its
nobest representative, Thomas JEFF
ferson, bought this whole Western
country from the French in 1903?
Let them speak who laid the foundations
of our cOuntry'S greatness in the past and
who. of all others, should come to the
front in hours Of peril and confusion.
The writer has just come across an ar
tcle in the New York World in the shane
of a communication. which seems to cover
the ground substantially. The author SAYS:
Let the government utilize its surplus
funds in building a number of railroads
from the Atlantic cities to point some
where about latitude 81 north (St. Louis,
for instance,) and then let them start a
grand trunk line to the Pacific ocean. and
let the cost of travelling OH all these lines be
l cent a mile" He further suggests that
at longitude 90 west a transverse railroad
be built, commencing at the northern line Of
Dakota and striking the Gulf of Mexico
down in Texas. Also another transverse
line beginning in Washington Territory
and striking the southern boundary line of
California. The cheap rates would serve
more than any other agency now at work to
| distribute the unemployed laborerS and ar
tiSanS all over the land, and particularly to
the sparSely populated and immensely val
! liable states and territories west of the Mis-
siSSippi. These are in the aggregate twice
as large and more productive than the
states east of the river and, according to
the census OF 1880. had only one fourth of
the population of that section. Besides,
the employment given in the construction
of these railroads and the practical knOwl-
edge acquired by working people in general
of the great West and its resources would
be more valuable than whole tons of adver-
Using and individual efforts in tine same
direction. Again. this enterprise would
go farther than anything yet suggested
in lowering freight and passenger rates on
all the railroads and thereby bringing the
producer and consumer in closer contact,
| which is the main object of all our anti
mOnOpOlStS and economic reformerS of the
| present day. Here is a chance for that
grand old party in politics, which was ever
and always on the side of justice to all: TO
| the SOuthernerS who did not make slavery.
but were its victims rather; to the
! NOrtherners, who, in the beginning of the
government wanted the territory northwest
of the Ohio and the Virginia Democrats
gave it to them: to the victims of European
oppression and centuries of wrong, who
came here DISTINGUISHED. discouraged and
| robbed, and Jefferson. with his adherents,
opened to them the doors of our free insti-
buttons. making them citizens after GER
tain period of probation to the great disgust
and chagrin of the federalists-the lineal
ancestors of the Republicans of our day.
If this great party does not come to the
rescue of the oppressed and discontinued
workers of the present time in this Ameri-
can land, no one else is either able or Will
ing to solve the difficulty. The miIlonaires
now so common everywhere. are a growth
of the last twenty-five years. Their power
in the general government and in the state
government seriously threatens the stabl-
! ity of our institutions, and the time is come
when an etfectual check upon their over
weening Influence in the land is strictly in
order. If the idea suggested in this conf
muncation has any good in it. let all patri-
otto men 'hand it around" Truly yours,
A WESTERN DEMOCRAT.
/ At